culm

Meanings

1. Waste coal, used as a poor quality fuel.
2. The spoils from which such low-quality coal can be retrieved.
3. Anthracite, especially when found in small masses.

1. The stem of a plant, especially of grass or sedge.

1. A German bishopric, founded in 1234.

1. A river in Devon, England, which joins the River Exe near Stoke Canon.

Etymology

From Middle English culme, colme (“fragments of coal”), of uncertain origin. Probably from Old English *colm, related to Old English col (“coal”). Alternatively, perhaps from Welsh cwlm (“knot or tie”), applied to this species of coal, which is much found in balls or knots in some parts of Wales.